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The township was organized as "Huron Township" on August 12, 1818, named after what was then known as the Huron River. Because of confusion with another Huron River south of Detroit, on July 17, 1824, the Michigan Territorial Legislature renamed both the township and the river after DeWitt Clinton, the popular governor of New York from 1817 to 1823 who was largely responsible for building the Erie Canal which enabled many settlers to come to Michigan.[3]

The Clinton River forks into three branches within the township. Moravian Drive is the township's oldest road dating back to the days when the Moravian Missionaries settled to attempt to convert the local Native Americans.

Clinton Township is also home of the Walker Goldie Institute. This organization is dedicated to the education of youth through teaching and after school programs. The organization was founded by Kimberly Hyde in 2007. East of the Township is the city of Mount Clemens.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 28.2 square miles (73.1 km²), of which, 28.2 square miles (73.0 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.11%) is water.

The U.S. Census Bureau has also defined Clinton Charter Township as a census-designated place (CDP) in the 2000 Census so that the community would appear on the list of places (like cities and villages) as well on the list of county subdivisions (like other townships). The final statistics for the township and the CDP are identical.

There were 40,299 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the township the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $50,067, and the median income for a family was $61,497. Males had a median income of $48,818 versus $29,847 for females. The per capita income for the township was $25,758. About 4.2% of families and 5.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.4% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Judy Archer, an Ottawa elementary school art teacher in Clinton Township Michigan decided that the Chippewa Valley School District should try to set up some sort of sister school program with a school in Japan. She approached the State government, currently involved in Sister State relations with Shiga Prefecture Japan. At about the same time Yasu-cho, in Shiga Prefecture, had been looking for a Sister City and approached the Prefectural government.

In 1991, Judy, her son, and Connie Sier, another elementary school teacher, joined the summer Michigan State Exchange Group to Japan and were hosted in Yasu. Judy took a strong liking to Yasu and approached the Yasu town officials, through Howard Rose, the CIR at the time, about establishing a sister school program. Unlike the States, the Japanese school system is directly controlled by the local government. Therefore, Yasu wanted to not only form a sister school relation but a sister city relationship.

An official group led by the Yasu Deputy Mayor and other officials visited Clinton Township in February of 1993 to discuss final arrangements for becoming "Sister Cities". In August of the same year a group from Clinton Township, headed by Supervisor Mark Kohl arrived in Yasu where the Sister City Agreement was signed and formalized. Since that time an exchange group visits Yasu or Clinton Township every year.

In 1998, in honor of the Fifth Anniversary of the Sister City Program, Yasu dispatched Japanese gardeners who, working side by side with Clinton Township workers, completed a Japanese Garden for the people of Clinton Township.

The year 2000 saw the start of the Junior High School Student Exchange. In the fall, 8 students visited Chippewa Valley School District for 10 days. The following spring students visited and attended classes in Yasu.

In 2003, Clinton Township presented Yasu with a sculpture in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the Sister City Program.